As used herein, the term “decontamination” refers to processes, including, but not limited to, “deactivation of biocontamination,” “deactivation of chemical contamination,” “sterilization,” “disinfection” and “sanitization.”
Steam is commonly used in decontamination systems, such as sterilizers. In this regard, steam sterilizers are widely used in hospitals, doctors offices, dentist offices, and laboratories to sterilize medical and dental instruments, laboratory instruments, production equipment, manufactured products, and other articles.
“Steam purity” and “steam quality” are important properties of steam that will affect the efficacy of a decontamination process, such as steam sterilization. Steam purity is an expression of the quantity of non-water components (i.e., solid, liquid or vaporous contamination) carried in the steam. Steam quality refers to the quantity of moisture present in the steam. If there is no moisture (i.e., no liquid water), then the steam is of 100% quality. Accordingly, “pure” steam has a liquid water content of 0%. It should be appreciated that steam quality relates to steam purity because liquid droplets in steam may contain dissolved solids.
A steam generator used to vaporize water can introduce contaminants into the steam, thereby reducing steam purity. For example, where the steam generator is a boiler, boiler chemicals can be introduced into the steam during priming or foaming of the boiler. These contaminants may cause corrosion or staining of the decontamination device (e.g., steam sterilizer) or articles to be processed by the decontamination device.
Steam purity is typically measured by performing chemical analysis on the steam. In this regard, samples of steam are collected by means of an apparatus referred to as a steam cooler, or by collecting the steam as condensate.
In many healthcare applications, the minimum acceptable steam quality for a steam sterilizer is 95%. If steam quality is below 95%, then “wet packs” (i.e., moisture droplets) may develop on articles after completion of a sterilization cycle. Consquently, reprocessing will be required.
Steam quality is typically measured in the following ways: (1) using a plumbed-in device that physically separates condensed water from the steam, or (2) collecting steam using a steam cooler, and analyzing the steam for sodium content.
Steam purity and steam quality measurements are time consuming, often innaccurate, and can expose an operator to potentially unsafe conditions. Moreover, prior art approaches to measuring steam purity and steam quality do not provide advanced warnings of problems with the purity and quality of the steam used in a decontamination process.
The present invention provides a method and apparatus for monitoring the purity and/or quality of steam that addresses these and other problems.